Soda spitting sets bad example, says ad watchdog

Soda spitting sets bad example, says ad watchdog - 07/07/0512:24 PM

Singing with a mouthful of chicken salad is OK, but spitting out soda is not -- at least according to British ad watchdogs.

A television commercial for Coca-Cola's new Fanta Z encouraged bad manners, the regulator said, by showing people spitting out an older version of the orange soda called Fanta Light to show that not everyone had liked the taste.

The ad, created by Mother Ltd, received 272 complaints, most of them saying it would set a bad example for children. Eight people said young children had aped the ad.

"Spitting is widely perceived as antisocial and we could understand why viewers would not want to see children copying this behavior," the Advertising Standards Authority said in a ruling published Wednesday.

It restricted the ad to after 9 p.m. when the likelihood of children watching would be reduced.

The ruling contrasts with the regulator's decision a month ago to reject a flood of 1,671 complaints about a KFC ad showing people singing with their mouths full. Widely held to encourage bad manners in children, it was the most complained-about advert in UK history.

Once taught good table manners, children would be unlikely to act badly simply by watching the commercial, the ASA said in the KFC judgment.

Coca-Cola Great Britain, for its part, said the Fanta ad was not meant to cause offence, and that it was meant to show "a set of ironic, unexpected conclusions" to spotlight its new soda with no added sugar.